” To reconcile respect for human rights with sporting world’s need for independence “

Raimondi Guido

25^th September 2016

President of the European Court of Human rights

National and international jurisdictions only intervene in a limited way in sporting affairs, owing to sport’s long tradition of independence and autonomy. This does not mean that there are not questions to be asked, particularly concerning the protection of athletes’ fundamental rights, as the current President of the European Court of Human Rights, the Italian Guido Raimondi, makes clear.

« Can we accept that the law stops at the door of the world of sport?”

The place of sport in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights is limited. The court can only intervene following involvement by the national courts, in line with the rule about the exhaustion of domestic remedies, a condition of the powers of the Court in Strasbourg. Even national judicial systems only intervene rarely in sporting matters, and for a very good reason: in general, belonging to a sports association involves renouncing the right to call on the state justice system, since any disputes relating to sport should be resolved within the sport system. Punishments which can go as far as excluding an individual from their own sport federation, which amounts to ending their career, are possible for sports men or women who do not respect this requirement.

This closure towards the outside world is definitely one of the …

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